Javier Bardem has joked that he would have paid to star in Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming sci-fi drama Dune.
The film, slated for a 2020 release, has attracted an impressive list of stars, including Bardem, Jason Momoa, Rebecca Ferguson, Timothee Chalamet, Josh Brolin, Zendaya and Oscar Isaac.
Bardem says he had no hesitation when Villeneuve approached him about playing Stilgar in his new film.
“The most important thing is that I love Denis, since Prisoners. What a luxury! He asked me if I would ever be interested in being part of Dune. Are you kidding? How much do I have to pay?” he said to Cinema Blend. “It’s one of those blessings that you have in this amazing, blessed life that I happen to have: having a job that I love, and make a living with, and also work with people that I truly admire and respect, and I’m getting inspired by it. It’s a lot.”
Villeneuve is rebooting David Lynch’s 1984 cult version of Dune, which was based on Frank Herbert’s book of the same name, with Dave Bautista, Charlotte Rampling and Stellan Skarsgard also on the cast list.
Lynch’s go-to actor Kyle MacLachlan, who starred in the original, recently shared his thoughts on the remake.
“I’m curious to see what happens, you know, he’s (Villeneuve) getting together a great cast obviously, really talented people,” he said to BuzzFeed News’ AM to DM. “It’s a challenging piece of material to try to bring to the screen, so I wish him luck with that, if anyone can do it, he’ll do a great job. He’s a terrific filmmaker.
“The book, I’m kind of a nerd about the book. I read it when I was 15 for the first time. I know the book very well. There are three sections, you can break that into three movies and still have a lot left over.”
